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Courseware Firm Grants Funds for Study of Online Learning Platform

By Kevin Hudson

02/20/13

Adapt Courseware has issued a request for proposals for its scalable adaptive learning research grants, with research to be targeted on the effectiveness of the company's adaptive learning platform in Introduction to Psychology and Introduction to Sociology courses with 300 to 1,000 credit-seeking students per section.

Grant recipients must be two- and four-year regionally accredited colleges and universities, with selected proposals awarded up to $10,000 each for the implementation and study of the platform. Proposals may focus applications on one subject, or apply for up to $20,000 for both subjects. Proposals are due by March 18.

The company has conducted its own testing, measuring courses that utilize its platform against comparable online sections employing more traditional, non-adaptive instructional methods, to establish the extent of any increases in student satisfaction, learning outcomes, course completion rates, and re-registration rates. The grant program aims to determine the extent to which these results apply to varied higher education settings and larger course sections.

"Although there have been advancements in online learning with regards to accessibility and flexibility, little research exists that speaks to its real effectiveness in meeting the individual needs of students in a large-scale setting," said John Boersma, founder and CEO of Adapt Courseware. "Our goal is to explore further these results, demonstrating that measurable learning outcomes using adaptive learning strategies are not only possible in large-scale instances, but quite attainable."

Recipients will be required to implement a pilot session for the Summer 2013 term, followed by one or more large-scale sessions for the Fall 2013 term.

Adapt Courseware is headquartered in Pittsford, NY, with a multimedia production facility in Los Angeles, CA. The company offers online curriculum resources combining learning science with multimedia techniques. For more information on the proposal process and Adapt Courseware, visit adaptcourseware.com/researchgrants.

About the Author

Kevin Hudson is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Oregon. He can be reached at sportswryter@yahoo.com.